I've known Marina Marcarino for seven years, and she's been a mentor to me in wine. She makes wine in Piedmont, in the Barbaresco area, on a property called Punset. She was the first person ever to have an organic certified Barbaresco. Back in 1982. A woman, in her twenties, in deep Piedmont. She has a lot to tell and I never get tired of listening to her.
When she was 14, in 1978, she wanted to go to oenology school. Her parents said no. They pushed her toward engineering and the family construction business instead. She did that for a while, but kept studying enology in secret. Until she got caught. Then she made a deal with her father. Let her run the family farm for one year. If she made a profit, she could keep doing it.
She had no money, so she went to a professor and asked for student interns. He said make it educational. So she proposed a project on organic farming, which was a new idea in Italy in the mid-1980s. The university agreed and it worked, but the resistance was real. A woman winemaker. Organic practices. She kept going, hired young people, and things slowly changed.
This is her Barbera d'Alba, which she fermented in small batches to avoid elevated temperatures and overly jammy aromas. The goal is freshness. Balance between alcohol and acidity. No oak at all.
Drink it with a plate of pasta, or with a slow-braised meat.
